The parade that never ends....

Okay - so it did end but only after I saw 14 tractors, 25 convertibles, 1 billion cub scouts and old ladies wearing fish net tights and bikinis (see pics below-if you dare).

I like parades just as well as the next person but there are only so many cars, scouts, trucks, etc that I can stand. I like the marching bands, the local stores and restaurants and of course the candy.

We invited our friends from church, the Neimans to come with us. They have two cute kids and brought along their 6 1/2 year old niece. Bri's parents and grandma came too. The weather man promised us great weather but as we were walking to our spot we noticed lightning in the not so far distance. Great - oh and were those dark rain clouds too? We were all dressed for weather in the 80's, not for rain. Bri packed our beach umbrella so would could stay reasonably dry should the heavens open up. Bam - there was the thunder. Big drops of rain started falling but weren't that impressive.

Ava was waving her flag high up in the air and I moved away and told her that if she got struck by lightning that I didn't want to get hit. She got a worried look on her face and immediately put her flag down. Then she noticed me smiling at her. She knew I was kidding but didn't wave her flag as high for awhile ;) I am a nice mom.

Thanks be to God the "rain" lasted about 10 minutes, the sky cleared up and we got to use our beach umbrella for shade instead of for a rain cover.



Grae found the joys of collecting candy that was tossed like a bullet to him. He didn't want to put it away in our "community" candy bag.

Starbucks had an float in the parade but they didn't give out shots of espresso or even a coupon. That's okay because we prefer Coffee People.

This band is hilarious. It's called Get A Life and their motto is High Stepping and Out of Shape. Basically it's a bunch of old band members that get together and play in parades. They have a color guard to but we didn't get pictures of them (you may thank me now).

Dad and Grae

Are you ready for the finale? As promised....

All in all it was a fun parade but was missing our favorite band - the bag pipes. We LOVE them every year and they weren't there.

After the parade everyone came over to our new house for a bbq. It was a really nice time. Now the girls are cleaning up our mess and Bri and I are relaxing. It's nice to have daughters....